All my life I’ve had an interest in space and since the beginning of 2014 I finally got myself some decent binoculars and a telescope and I have not looked back.
My Flickr Astrophotography album can be found here. It’s a little empty right now but I am hoping to populate it more and more.
The following is a list of my astronomy related equipment.
- Telescopes and Mounts
- Skywatcher Skyliner 200P reflector on dobsonian mount (1200 mm, f/6) with lazy susan mod – primary observing scope
- Skywatcher Explorer 130-PDS reflector (650 mm, f/5) modified to bring the primary mirror up the tube for efficient focus – primary imaging scope
- Skywatcher Startravel 80 refractor (400 mm, f/5) – mostly used as a guide camera
- Skywatcher NEQ6 Pro Synscan motorised mount
- Optics
- Skywatcher 0.9x coma corrector / reducer for fast reflectors
- 1.25″ eyepieces: Skywatcher 25 mm modified achromat, 17 mm & 10 mm plossls, Japanese 6 mm orthoscopic
- 2″ eyepieces: Skywatcher 28 mm modified achromat
- Generic 2x barlow with T-thread
- Generic 1.25″ polarisable neutral density filter
- Photography
- Canon EOS 550D (no modifications) plus T-rings
- ZWO ASI120MC-S colour CMOS camera for planetary imaging and guiding
- Other accessories
- Home made “portable” power supply consisting 105 Ah leisure battery, 12V -> 19.5V step up converter for laptop power, added digital voltmeter, and 12V cigar socket
- Software
- Mount controlled via EQASCOM and Stellarium / Stellariumscope
- Image acquisition with Astrophotography Tools (APT)
- Image processing with DeepSkyStacker and Photoshop CC
I am currently in the planning stages of generating a searchable image gallery for my astrophotography, which will include all of the equipment and image acquisition details for the photos I take. Watch this space….